Go Triangle spokesman Michael Charbonneau said he is concerned about the mall’s actions.

“We were very concerned to learn that Southpoint Mall was threatening to tow transit customers who were parking in what should be a designated park-and-ride lot to access a bus to get to work, school or a doctor’s office,” Charbonneau said. “We believe that threatening to do this without any clearly marked spaces or signs indicating any time restrictions is unfair to customers and violates the agreement the mall has with the City of Durham."

Durham City Manager Tom Bonfield said it is his understanding that the mall’s tow notice only pertained to park-and-ride patrons who were not parking in designated areas.

GoTriangle said in a press release that while a sign in the Southpoint Mall parking lot indicates the general park-and-ride area, there are no designated spaces marked within the lot and no time restrictions are posted.

GoTriangle said that Southpoint management has not indicated how it will determine if a vehicle belongs to a transit customer or shopper before towing it and has not explained how it will work with transit customers who return on a bus that arrives after 6 p.m. or who enter the mall after getting off the bus.

WRAL News reached out to the general manager at Southpoint, but has not received a response.

Wayne HillJun 8, 2:35 p.m.

I guess Southpoint did not get the memo. Malls are declining, so alienating a potential customer base is not the way to go.

Steve FaulknerJun 8, 1:44 p.m.

Again, horrible "reporting" from WRAL:

GoTriangle believes this threat is in direct violation of the mall’s site plan and the Unified Development Ordinance (Section 10.2.2), which requires Southpoint to mark designated spaces and to put up signs clearly indicating any parking restrictions.

A sign in the lot indicates the general park-and ride area, but Southpoint has not marked any designated spaces or included any time or other restrictions. Designated park-and-ride spaces for transit customers were required as part of the city permit to build the Streets at Southpoint mall.

Johnny PriestJun 8, 10:04 a.m.

I've never been to Southpoint, are the PnR spaces painted a different color to distinguish them from shopper spaces. Maybe a few signs would help. Anything to keep those cars from adding to the mess on 40.

Patrick MurphyJun 8, 8:49 a.m.

I think the safe thing to do would be to not shop at Southpoint for fear they misidentify your vehicle as a park and rider.

Robert LewisJun 8, 5:30 a.m.

Mall is overpriced and overrated. 90% of Durham can't afford to shop there. I bet Northgate would do well if that part of town. Maybe the rebirth of the mall would be the affordable mall.

Jim FreiJun 7, 10:34 p.m.

Seems like the mall would want all the potential customers it could get.